The skies over Jordan and the Arab world will light up on the nights of August 12 and 13 with the Perseid meteor shower, one of the most active and dazzling meteor showers of the year—featuring up to 100 meteors per hour.
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Jordanian astronomer and member of the Royal Astronomical Society (UK) and the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences, Imad Mujahid, stated Monday that the meteors will be clearly visible to the naked eye, without the need for telescopes or special equipment, and will appear like fireworks across the sky.
He recommended viewing the shower from dark areas away from light pollution, such as Wadi Rum in southern Jordan, which is considered one of the best locations for observing such celestial events, where the meteors will appear even more striking and beautiful.
Mujahid added that tourism entities are preparing to host astronomical camps in Wadi Rum to observe the Perseids and other celestial objects using telescopes. Attendees will also have the chance to view Jupiter and its moons, Saturn and its rings, and even the Milky Way galaxy.
He explained that the Perseid meteors originate from the comet Swift–Tuttle, which leaves a trail of cosmic dust in its orbit around the Sun roughly every 130 years. Earth passes through this dust trail every August 13, resulting in a surge of meteor activity.
Mujahid noted that meteors form when tiny dust particles enter Earth’s atmosphere at extremely high speeds, reaching up to 70 kilometers per second. The intense friction with the atmosphere generates heat, causing the particles to glow brightly before fading in a matter of seconds.
The meteors begin to burn at about 120 kilometers above Earth and disintegrate completely by 60 kilometers altitude, meaning they almost never reach the Earth’s surface. And if any fragments do, they are minuscule and imperceptible to the human eye.
— (Petra)
